Asia’s cash premiums for ultra low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO) at 0.5% fell on Wednesday, weighed down by weaker buying interest in the physical market .

Cash premiums for Asian VLSFO at 0.5% were $15.02 a tonne over Singapore quotes, down 6 cents from the previous day.

The first-month VLSFO crack eased to $19.29 a barrel against Dubai crude during Asian trading hours from $19.56 a barrel on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, January’s 380 cst HSFO barge crack traded Wednesday at a $13 a barrel discount to Brent, while cash premiums for high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) of 380 cst fell to $2.13 a tonne against Singapore quotations.

INVENTORIES
– Fujairah Petroleum Industry Zone (FOIZ) heavy distillate and tailings stocks fell 29.9% from the previous week to 7.6 million barrels (1.1 million tonnes) , according to data from S&P Global Platts.

– Compared to prior year levels, weekly fuel oil inventories at FOIZ were approximately 19% lower.

– Fuel oil inventories at FOIZ have averaged 9.9 million barrels so far this year, compared to a weekly average of 10.3 million barrels in 2021, according to Reuters calculations.

WINDOW TRADES
– Two high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) contracts of 180 cst, two HSFO transactions of 380 cst

– No VLSFO transactions reported

OTHER NEWS
– Benchmark Dubai crude in the Middle East hit a record high this week while spot premiums for Russian oil loaded in April hit their highest level in more than two years in Asia, trade sources said on Wednesday as prices returned to pre-pandemic levels. Read more

– Oil prices recouped losses on Wednesday after falling more than 3% in the previous session, as investors weighed the impact of easing Russian-Ukrainian tensions on a tight global supply balance tense and the recovery of fuel demand.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Koustav Samanta; Editing by Devika Syamnath)